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I just came across this story from localnews8.com, which promises a real hassle of time to come for any central stations with accounts in the Northern Utah area code 801. Apparently strong population growth has exhausted the allotted phone lines, and the Utah Public Service Commission is being forced to add a new area code, 385, to accommodate.
I just did a quick check at NBFAA's website. There're close to 30 security companies in 801 who're members. Yikes.
This will of course require centrals to track down their accounts with numbers that need to be changed, and set up a truck roll with their local technician to go to each account and reprogram the panel. Seems like a big pain in the neck. But such is the price we pay for progress and population.

Just got this release today and thought I'd post it since I just recently learned about Gillmore Security. (I talked to Alan Gillmore last month. And there's a story in the upcoming March issue about this high-end resi company, which is located in Cleveland.) Gillmore just joined Security Networks of America.
SNA is a group that's been around for quite a while, but "is pretty quiet in the industry," according to Dave Carter who gave a presentation at the recent Barnes Buchanan Security Alarm Conference. There's a brief in the March issue about that presentation. SNA is a member organization that's limited to privately held companies that have their own central station.
SNA's holding its executive IT conference in Dallas on Monday, co-locating with our TechSec conference, which takes place Tuesday and Wednesday. I expect to get a chance to catch up with the folks from Gillmore and some of the other SNA members and will have more to report later.
For now, here's the release:

Gillmore Security is Newest Shareholder in
Security Network of America
SOUTHERN PINES, NC (February 13, 2009) â€“ Security Network of America (SNA) the organization in which independent security firms work together to compete successfully with giant national firms, announces its newest shareholding company, Gillmore Security of Cleveland, Ohio.
â€œWeâ€™re very pleased to welcome Gillmore Security as a charter shareholder of SNA,â€ said Managing Director David W. Carter. â€œFor nearly 40 years, Gillmore has been providing exceptional security service to businesses and residences in northeastern Ohio.â€
Participation in SNA is limited to firms that are privately owned, have a proven track record in the security and alarm business, own and operate their own UL Listed central station monitoring facilities and do not compete directly with each other. Today 36 SNA companies operate in 30 states and three Canadian provinces. Ranked collectively, SNA companies are among the top six security providers in North America.
â€œMembership in SNA brings significant advantages,â€ Carter said. â€œAs a corporate entity, our members can share key operational indicators to evaluate how we compare to our peers, the education and training programs weâ€™ve developed keep our members on the cutting edge professionally and our combined purchasing power helps us gain leverage with equipment suppliers.â€
â€œAt Gillmore Security, weâ€™ve never been concerned about being the biggest, just about being the best,â€ said CEO Alan Gillmore III, whose father founded the firm in 1971. â€œWe see our involvement with SNA providing us with significant advantages that will translate into even better service for our customers. SNA companies are in the same field, and Iâ€™ve always felt that the best way to learn is from people who are facing the same challenges you are.
â€œEven though we operate regionally, participation in SNA gives us a national perspective that Iâ€™m convinced will help us serve our customers better than ever.â€

The investor community continues to commit money to the security industry and ancillary manufacturers. You'll see on the home page a story about new investment in Alarm.com, which the CEO calls a good sign for the industry.
And I found on the wire today this story about RedShift, which develops thermal surveillance technology, getting another $6 million in funding from a collection of investors:

RedShift will use the funding to complete development of its Thermal Light Valve(TM) -based camera platform, which is designed to be the lowest-cost and easiest-to-integrate thermal imaging solution for OEMs. Thermal imaging is a critical technology for enabling a range of emerging energy efficiency products such as intelligent HVAC, energy auditing in buildings, adaptive data center cooling and network power management. Until RedShift, thermal imaging was largely unaffordable for use in these and many other applications.
â€œWe are thrilled that Emerson has decided to back RedShift,â€ said Matthias Wagner, Chairman and co-Founder of RedShift. â€œThere is tremendous fit between our technology and Emersonâ€™s businesses and I expect this investment will be the start of a very productive relationship.â€

They don't actually mention security, but I'm sure someone could creatively use such technology, and I know they have some exposure to security in general.
Also, want to point out where I found this information. PeHUB provides great coverage of the venture capital and investor world and you can get a daily email from them by clicking here.
The author of the email, Dan Primack, is quite good. Almost makes all that money talk seem interesting.

Brink's Home Security released Q4 earnings today. Below is a a brief AP report on that, and further down an item on billionaire and big Democrat George Soros, who bought a little more than 1,100,000 shares of Brink's Home Security stock before the end of the year, and before that stock price went up.

Brink's Home Security's 4Q profit gains 21 percent
Brink's Home Security 4th-quarter profit rises on bigger subscriber base
Wednesday February 18, 2009, 9:46 am EST
IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Brink's Home Security Holdings Inc. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit increased 21 percent due to a larger subscriber base and lower royalty expense.
Net income rose to $14.8 million, or 32 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, from $12.2 million, or 27 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast a fourth-quarter profit of 39 cents per share. The estimates typically exclude items.
The company said it benefited from a reduction in the royalty rate charged by its former parent for November and December. Typically, the rate equaled about 7 percent of revenue, but decreased to 1.25 percent in November.
Quarterly revenue gained 7 percent to $135.2 million from $126 million in the previous year due to growth in subscriber base and higher average monitoring rates.
The company said its subscribers increased to 1.3 million, up more than 6 percent in the same period a year ago.
For the year, earnings increased to $57.1 million, or $1.25 per share, from $44.2 million, or 96 cents per share, in 2007. Analysts were predicting earnings of $1.59 per share.
Yearly revenue rose to $532.3 million from $484.4 million.

And this on George Soros:

New Purchase: BRINKS HOME SECURITY HOLDINGS INC (CFL)
George Soros initiated holdings in BRINKS HOME SECURITY HOLDINGS INC. His purchase prices were between $15.5 and $23.5, with an estimated average price of $19.6. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.82%. His holdings were 1,146,542 shares as of 12/31/2008.

Get the Recognition Your Company and Employees Deserve!
The CSAA has announced it's looking for entrants for it's annual Excellence Awards.
Three years ago, CSAA initiated the CSAA Central Station Excellence Awards program to recognize the industry's central station, central station manager and the central station operator that best exemplified excellence in central station operation.
In every industry, there are outstanding companies, managers and operators who all perform to the highest levels and standards. In fact, these are the companies and people that are constantly exploring new ways to raise the standards of performance and quality in an industry. The Board of Directors of CSAA feels that it is fitting that we continue to recognize the efforts of extraordinary companies and the extraordinary people who make them work.
The CSAA Awards are open to all UL Listed and/or FM Approved Central Stationsâ€”including company-owned, proprietary, and wholesale (third-party) central stations.
This year CSAA will again recognize the best central station and individuals with three distinct awards:
The Central Station of the Year Award
The Central Station Manager of the Year Award
The Central Station Operator of the Year Award
The winners will be announced and the awards conferred at the CSAA Awards Breakfast on June 24, 2009 during the 2009 Electronic Security Expo in Baltimore, Md.
How to Participate
IMPORTANT: New this year, you will be asked to submit some of your responses on a downloadable spreadsheet:
1. Click here to download the spreadsheet. (Please ignore any messages indicating that the file is corrupted).
2. Save the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet on your computer under a new name (do not complete the form on the browser).
3. E-mail the completed spreadsheet before April 8, 2009 to the CSAA.
4. Download the rest of the materials by visiting the CSAA.
You will also receive a mailing with the main application form.
5. You may e-mail the rest of the application as well, or you may send 10 completed copies of the rest of your application to CSAA, 8150 Leesburg Pike, Suite 700, Vienna, Va. 22182; Attention: Celia Besore.
If you have any questions, please contact Celia Besore at 703-242-4670, Ext. 16.
The deadline for submitting your Awards entries is Wednesday, April 8, 2009. All materials submitted are held in the strictest confidence.
This is your opportunity to let your central station, your best manager, and your best operator get the recognition they deserve. Thank you for your commitment to raising the quality and standards of our profession and good luck!

Goverment Computer News gives us the following headline today:
Physical security and cybersecurity go hand in hand
Revelatory, I know. And I'm not trying to bust on GCN. I think they're among many who are just now coming to the same conclusion. And this isn't even about "convergence." It's about making sure you control access to your data center, keep track of your laptops, make sure people don't just walk out of your facility with USB drives filled with data they're not supposed to have access to.
The thing is, public companies are way out in front on some of this because of Sarb-Ox regulations, which require that you have an audit trail of who had access to what data, those same regulations put in place by the U.S. government, but apparently not practiced by the U.S. government. Shocker.
This seems to be the crux of the problem:

In the early days of computing physical and cyber security were one and the same. Mainframe computers were locked in computer rooms and accessed by hardwired dumb terminals. But as computers became smaller, smarter and more ubiquitous, property and data were dealt with separately and there traditionally has been little reintegration of physical and cyber security. Today, data in any form can be the most valuable asset in any organization, government or private, and the proliferation of devices on which it resides means that physical security is becoming as critical to protecting it as cyber security.

There seems to be a logical problem with that paragraph. As in: At first, we locked the doors to the computer room, then computers got smaller, so we didn't worry about controlling access to them anymore.
Huh?
Anyway, what's done is done. And if anyone read my live blog of the Focus event last week, you'll remember that this obliviousness to the importance of protecting data is widespread, according to Dan Dunkel:

â€œOne major concern is that $200 billion annually in intellectual property theft is occuring. U.S. doesnâ€™t manufacture much anymore. Itâ€™s our technology and intelligence, and itâ€™s getting ripped off by the Chinese, the Russians, the Israelis, the French. Itâ€™s a huge, huge problem.

Sure, intellectual theft can happen via hacking, but it can also happen via someone walking off with your laptop.
This is why it's not surprising to me that every time I ask about biometrics, integrators tell me they sell most biometric access systems for the protection of data centers and data rooms. The data needs protecting more than anything else the facility.
As in, from GCN:

True, breaches caused by hackers can generate huge losses and big headlines. The recent hacking of Heartland Payment Systems Inc. potentially exposed data from hundreds of millions of online transactions a month for an untold number of compromised persons. But donâ€™t ignore the physical risks. One of the largest government data breaches occurred with the 2006 theft of a Veterans Affairs laptop containing records of more than 26 million persons. That incident has cost the VA $20 million in a settling a class action suit.

I'm not sure why people are just making this connection now, but it's worth reiterating, so kudos to GCN for putting it out there to their readership.

This sad news arrived from Potter Electric Signal Company on Friday. I thought I'd share it as many of you knew Robbie Murray.

It is with great sadness that Potter Electric Signal Company, LLC announces that Robinson â€˜Robbieâ€™ P. Murray, Age 61, passed away on Thursday, February 5, 2009 at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Robbie was hired by Potter in May 2008 as Global Product Training Manager for the Fire and Security Division. Prior to Potter, Robbie held several key roles within the industry over the last 25 years. These roles included 10 years as ADT Security Systemâ€™s Manager of Fire Design and 11 years as Cooper Wheelockâ€™s Director of Global Business Marketing â€œWe were extremely fortunate to have of Robbie as a part of the Potter family, even if it was only for a brief time.â€ says Hugh Blair, V.P. of Potterâ€™s Fire and Security Division. â€œRobbie had such an extensive understanding of the product and people and will be missed greatly both as a colleague and friend.â€ says Blair.
Robbie is remembered by many as living life to the fullest and enjoying every moment with his family and friends. Robbie is survived by his devoted wife, Barbara Sue (nee-Sabatino) and his loving daughter, Ashleigh

In what seems to be a good sign for the security industry in general, large component manufacturer Moog (not, I think, the maker of the legendary Moog synthesizer) has purchased Videolarm for a princely sum of $45 million.
I say "good sign" because it seems as though Moog is diversifying its assets to avoid getting hit too badly by the economy, and it seems to think security is a pretty safe bet. Assuming their M&A team don't suck at their jobs, its good that smart money guys don't think security will be too badly hit.
I say "princely sum" because, without knowing very much about the deal, it seems $45 million to acquire a manufacturer with $19.5 million in 2008 revenues is a pretty good deal for Videolarm. If camera and housing manufacturers are being valued at 2.25x trailing 12 months sales, that's great.
The company paid a lot, too, for QuickSet, which makes PTZ motors and gears.
So maybe Moog is cornering the market on pieces and parts of IP cameras. It will be interesting to see what else they buy in security. I'm trying to line up a call with them.

Here are some notes from CapitalSource's Bill Polk's talk at the Barnes Buchanan Conference.
Professor Polk gave an informative and amusing lecture on the state of the debt markets. (He's not actually a professor to my knowledge, he just seems like one.)
He provided nice historical perspective on the "immense volatility" in the markets today and some scary details about being in the "midst of unprecedented challenges to the global financial markets."
Times are tough and the price of debt is going up, but (like Mike Barnes and others) he called his message "relatively positive for the security industry."
In perhaps the most repeated phrase of the conference, Polk said security's not a bad place to be because "Evil persists and the capital markets know it."
Debt may be getting more expensive for security companies, but "let me assure you that there are industries out there that don't have a prayer of raising a dime of debt."
"Expect to see more club deals," he said. "More lenders working together to structure deals to diversify risk."
Adding to something Henry Edmonds talked to me about before the conference, (Edmonds is CEO of The Edmonds Group in St. Louis and a former business partner and business school buddy of Polk's) Polk said the "distressed transaction market will open up." In some instances the deals will come up not because the operating company itself is in trouble, but because the "hedge fund investor is in trouble."
(Here's the story I wrote from my conversation with Henry.)
And, repeating something I've heard Polk say before, "a great CFO is a great investment," especially now. He advised alarm companies to "go out and get a great guy or girl and treat them well."

I returned late Friday night from the Barnes Buchanan Security Alarm Conference, but haven't had time to blog about it because I've been busy with our March issue which has now been sent to the printers.
There will be lots in the March issue about the conference, but here are a few highlights and some fun stuff that won't be in the book.
First some background: BB is a conference that brings together the financial people and dealers and integrators for the purpose of talking about what's going on in the market. Presentations delve into market values, operating metrics, growth patterns and predictions, industry trends, new technology--you get the idea. It's co-sponsored by Barnes Associates, an investment banking and consulting firm that specializes inthe security alarm industry and the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.
It takes place at The Breakers in Palm Beach, and, as one speaker said: "We were all wondering if people were going to come to Palm Beach to The Breakers this year." Guess what? Attendance was up this year. Not by a lot, and some of the faces had changed, but there were about 10 more people there compared to 2008.
There was plenty of talk about financial Armegeddon in the markets and sobering signs in the industry, but the outlook from Barnes and others was that things could be a lot worse. Compared to other sectors, the security industry is doing OK.
Here's the newswire story I wrote for this week with some more details.
In addition to MIke's much-anticipated talk. I feel like "much anticipated" is part of the title, but it's true. The room is packed for that presentation and people are always clambering for the hand-out. Really. An investment guy I was talking to grabbed two of them when they were handed out.
There were company presentations including one from George Broady of Kings III of America, who, in an aside, quipped about the benefits, these days of not being a public company. He was quoted over and over during the conference.
Daniel Demers, CEO of Reliance Protectron was asked about the Canadian economy and how it compares to the U.S. economy.

The economy in Canada? My vision is that the Canadian banking system is completely different. We read that itâ€™s one of the best the world â€¦ Plus there are laws in place to prevent people from accessing property they cannot afford.â€ With that said, Demers noted that â€œ80 percent of our economy is tied into the United States. I predict within six to nine months itâ€™s going to hit us. We can feel it already.

If you happen to have a 12-year-old son, like I do, you may have heard of the movie Paul Blart Mall Cop. I hadnâ€™t been tempted to see it, but may have to now. Seems one of the movieâ€™s co-writers worked at Doyle Security (in Rochester, NY) in the 1970s when it still had a guard business and that experience was the inspiration for this movie. John Doyle, CEO of Doyle Security told the crowd this during a presentation he made and noted that the movie exceeded his expectations.
Joe Nuccio of ASG talked about health care and government being a strong vertical for them, something that others involved in systems integration also said.
Ira Riklis of COPS stayed on-message during his presentation: He had this message for lenders: a company's alarm accounts are your collateral. If you have them at a proprietary central station during tough times, that's risky. Wholesale, and more specifically, COPS, is the way to go.
John Murphy CEO of Vector and CSAA booster was perhaps even more on-message than Ira. His message: Join the CSAA; it's your responsibility--especially if you're among the top three alarm companies. He said joining CSAA is the smart thing to do. Also, when in Rome, (at a CSAA meeting) do as the other CSAA members do: Network.
And another post script: Wholesale monitoring is not necessarily the way to go for everyone.
ApxAlarm had a big presence at the event. I counted four executives and there may have been a couple more. More impressive was that Apx had its very own suite, where it held a series of meetings from 9-6 on Thursday. Thatâ€™s what the sign said outside the large room that everyone had to pass on the way to the Ponce de Leon room where the Barnes Buchanan presentations took place.
This post is almost as long as one of Sam's. I'm going to quit here, but I've got more notes from BB for later blogs. Stay tuned.